As a method for manufacturing absorbent articles, there is employed a method for conveying a web constituting an exterior body of a disposable diaper in a continuous state, disposing an elastic member constituting a leg gather on this web in an expanded state, and joining with the web and a workpiece that is an absorbent main body having an absorber absorbing a bodily liquid (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1).
In addition, for the convenience of manufacture, a web constituting an exterior body is conveyed in a continuous state in a widthwise direction of the absorbent article. On the other hand, a workpiece is manufactured in a continuous state in a longitudinal direction of an absorbent article, the manufactured workpiece is cut in an individual product length, and thereafter, the cut workpiece is disposed on the web. At this time, in order to align a direction of the workpiece and the web, the workpiece is rotated at an angle of 90 degrees, and thereafter, the rotated workpiece is disposed on the web (for example, refer to Patent Literature 2).
A rotational mechanism for the workpiece described in Patent Literature 2 is provided with a rotary drum and a plurality of suction units that are provided on an outer periphery of the rotary drum. The suction unit conveys workpieces upward of the web while the workpieces are rotated in a state in which the workpieces are sucked on a one-by-one pieces basis and then the workpieces are disposed at a predetermined position of the web. A suction face of the suction unit rotating on the outer periphery of the rotary drum restrains a difference in circumferential speed at the time of receipt of a workpiece and thus it is preferable to maintain a distance from a rotary shaft of the rotary drum. Therefore, the suction face is formed in a shape in which at least an outer edge portion of the suction face is inclined to a rotary shaft side of the rotary drum in comparison with a central portion of the suction face.
However, if the outer edge portion of the suction face is inclined to the rotary shaft side of the rotary drum, a gap between the outer edge portion of the workpiece and the web is produced at the time of delivery of the workpiece to the web. Therefore, the manufacturing apparatus of Patent Literature 2 is provided with a web position guiding mechanism to guide a web position so that both end portions in the cross direction of the web approaches a workpiece more significantly than a center in a cross direction at a position of delivering the workpiece to the web.